Paramount could move out of California if sued over WBD deal
Paramount could move out of California if sued over WBD deal
A new report indicates the company could seek a new location for its corporate headquarters if California AG Rob Bonta sues to stop its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount Skydance has not been afraid to use behavior that may come off as coercive in its attempts to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery. The company’s corporate headquarters have been located in California for less than a year, but that state of affairs may not be permanent. According to a new report, Paramount may decide to move its headquarters out of state if California Attorney General Rob Bonta moves forward with a lawsuit designed to stop the merger of the company with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is expected to be filed this week.
Key Details:
- Don’t you dare: Paramount may move its corporate headquarters out of California if the state sues.
- Moving back?: Before Skydance’s takeover, Paramount’s corporate headquarters were in New York.
- Still waiting: A lawsuit brought by state attorneys general to stop the merger of Paramount and WBD could come down as soon as this week.
Semafor was first to report that Paramount may opt to move its corporate headquarters out of California if Bonta sues to stop the long-gestating takeover of WBD. Those close to Paramount CEO David Ellison have been urging such a move, but no decision has been made.
The move would not affect Paramount’s studio lot, which the company has committed to keeping in California as part of the WBD deal. Semafor reports Ellison remains “wary” of the idea of leaving California, especially after relocating Paramount’s corporate headquarters to the state in the first place after the merger of Paramount and Skydance in 2025.
No lawsuit has officially been filed as of the time of this writing, but it could be coming very soon. A group of several states could join California in a legal challenge to the merger, and the suit is expected to drop as soon as this week. Bonta has long been skeptical of the deal, despite Paramount's efforts to convince him to let it close.
This isn’t the first time in this long process that Paramount’s efforts at brinksmanship have swung toward petulance. Back in December, when negotiations between WBD and Netflix appeared to be heating up, Paramount sent WBD’s CEO David Zaslav a letter complaining that the bidding process had been unfair. Now, Ellison’s friends and advisers are encouraging him to take his ball and go home — or at least to a new home — if California moves forward with a lawsuit.
If several states do sue Paramount to halt the WBD merger, it could end up costing the company quite a bit of money. Paramount has promised WBD shareholders a $0.25-per-share “ticking fee” that will start to accrue daily if the deal isn’t closed by the end of September. A lawsuit will certainly delay the closure of the merger, so Paramount’s desire to avoid such a suit is understandable.
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